


Welcome back

by Meloly



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU, Adashi Month 2019, Canon Fix, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-28 19:14:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20069155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meloly/pseuds/Meloly
Summary: Shiro comes back to Earth. Adam is alive.





	Welcome back

**Author's Note:**

> It is a translation of my own fic from Russian, so if some constructions are weird please do forgive me.

Shiro spots him the second he arrives in the Garrison with other paladins. Adam stands at some distance of large Lance’s family and, unlike them, he doesn’t rush to him holding arms out. He just looks at Shiro – the glance shades behind shining glasses, the lips are drawing tight – and then turns around and quickly walks away.

It’s wrong to say Shiro’s hurt.

It’s only seems to him that the Adam’s indifference has crumpled his heart in a little lump, and it won’t ever start beating again.

Shiro timely distracts himself with festive greetings of the officers barely hearing their happy voices. He shakes their sweaty hands on autopilot, makes himself thinking that sooner or later it will all be gone. After all, he signed with relief seeing Adam still strict, serious, alive, and there were nothing more important than this. 

The world doesn’t remain the same. People come and go away, one responsibility changes another, and even the most powerful feelings, full of emotions, eventually fade. Especially if you’re going to be thirty soon and the last few years you’ve spent in space.

Shiro assures himself in this the whole day until he comes back at his old apartment granted to him by the Garrison a long while ago. He leaves the keys on a small cabinet, switches the light on, curiously looks around, and the memories suddenly collapse him because Adam is everywhere. 

He’s at the pictures in dusty frames, at the various knickknacks like fridgies and cups, in the neat pile of books on a shelf, in the small towel at the hook. Shiro walks around the apartment for about forty minutes like he’s lost, like he’s getting to know everything again, and he can almost hear the way Adam idly calls for him from the bathroom, or the way he drops his bag on the floor coming home, or the way they both pant while tearing clothes from each other right here, on the soft wide carpet… 

Shiro hides his face in his palms and in a whisper counts till ten, and then there is an unexpected knock at the door. It must be Keith, the whole day keeping asking him what’s wrong, and Shiro opens the door without even looking in an eyeviewer.

“Hi”.

Adam squeezes his bag’s strap, and his overcoat is so wet the water drops from it to the floor. 

“God, you’re soaked through… You… You still haven’t used to carry an umbrella, have you?” Shiro tries to smile but it doesn’t work well, and he just steps aside. “Come on, go in”.

“The tonight weather-forecast hasn’t said anything about rain, so I didn’t take it. Turns out, I should have…” Adam doesn’t move. “Takashi, I’m…” 

“Adam, please go inside” Shiro looks at him. He notices dark circles under his eyes, and a deep wrinkle between his eyebrows, and grey hair on his temples. “You’re gonna get sick if you doesn’t change into dry clothes… or at least doesn’t take off this goddamn overcoat”.

Adam hesitates for a second, then nods and goes inside. He takes off his wet overcoat, leaves it on the shoulders, takes off his shoes… His fluffy spotted slippers are still there, and Adam puts them on like absolutely nothing has changed.

Like they haven’t have a fight before Kerberos.

Like they are still together. 

Like Shiro can hug him right now, kiss and never let him go.

“Wanna have a tea?” asks Shiro quietly instead. 

“And do you have it?” Adam rubs his glasses with a handkerchief from his pocket and then opens his bag. “You weren’t here for a while so…” He gets out a thermos, a big slice of cheese and a loaf of bread. “It’s a typical student’s set, of course, but I’ve decided to be on the safe side”.

“Is it cheese?” Shiro unwillingly swallows and his stomach wambles. “You have no idea how much I missed the usual earth food”.

“As I said”, Adam shrugs and smiles briefly, and something aches in Shiro’s chest. “You weren’t here for a while”.

At the kitchen they sit against each other and for some minutes drink tea in silence. Shiro almost immediately eats the half of cut cheese slice, and notably he does that not so much because of hunger as because of disquiet and desire to stay forever in this time spot without any long talks, explanations and stress. Adam keeps an eye on him above his cup, and he definetely has a thousand of questions Shiro’s unable to answer, however...

“You’re still a teacher in the Garrison?”

… Shiro has so many questions as well. Adam lowers the cup on table, wraps it around with his palms and nods. 

“Sometimes I have to fly also. Not often, but we don’t have enough people and from time to time there’s just nobody to take the wheel”.

“You still don’t like flying?” Shiro gives him a warm smile. “I remember you asking officers to order you anything instead of one run. Extra night shift, extra duty, documents sortation in the archive… Two extra night shifts…”

“I don’t feel comfortable in the air. It’s not scary or complicated, but I’d prefer to fly only as a passenger in civil planes, nothing more”, Adam follows the line of the cup rim with his finger. “It’s much easier for me to train pilots instead of being one. Especially after… After Kerberos”.

Shiro is silent, so is Adam. He squeezes the cup tighter like composing his thoughts, while Shiro struggles against sudden pang of guilt, wish to justify himself, to tell that nothing’s going to happen, but the problem is that right now, during the last battle for humanity, everything can happen. He can’t promise he won’t die, that he doesn’t run into fight and sacrifice himself if necessary.

Shiro can’t betray him again.

“Adam, Kerberos was…”

“Only the beginning, I know”, Adam looks into his eyes. “You’ve always been a hero, Takashi. The most brave and the most reckless hero I’ve ever met and I doubt it’s changed. You’re still the same, maybe just grew up a little, and now you’re back to save everyone again, to give everyone hope because who would if not you?”

“Adam…” 

“I was so happy when they told me you were on that fallen ship. I ran to it as fast as I could, I wanted to see you so much, to apologize and stay around, but I was late”, Adam bites his lip. “For some moment I thought I was dreaming about your return and then I saw a camera tape… I saw you breathing, you taken away by cadets, and… I was angry and happy at the same time, do you know such feeling? I’ve been so close to you, Takashi. So close I wanted to scream with grievance because I didn’t manage to come to you first”.

“Everything was so messed up”, Shiro impulsively takes Adam’s hands and clasps them, hoping with all his heart that Adam won’t push him away. “I wasn’t myself, I didn’t understand what’s going on, it… It’s happened so fast I couldn’t trust anything and anyone. When we were flying in Blue, I thought I was crazy. When we found ourselves in a big castle thousands of galaxies away, I wanted to scream first and ask someone to hit me, but I couldn’t do it. I’ve been with the kids, Adam, and if I had failed, they would have failed, you see? We… We’ve been through so much things, so unrealistic things, and now you seem unreal for me too”.

“Me?” Adam clenches his fingers, bending closer. “Takashi, I’m real, and so are you…”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s just… I’ve so many times imagined how I’d return, how I’d see you, how we… God, I’ve missed you so much”, Shiro nestles his forehead against their intertwined hands and blinks for a moment. “I was afraid I won’t have a chance to apologize to you. I was afraid I will return and find out you’re dead”.

“We’re both alive, Takashi. I’m with you, here and now, I’m not going anywhere”, Shiro feels his breath very close, like Adam kisses the top of his head. “It’s over”.

“Not everything”, Shiro lifts his head, looks at Adam, presses the forehead agains his, and Adam doesn’t back off. They sit like this for a few seconds without any hurry, and Shiro inly thanks him for it. “One thing was to fight somewhere in space, and another is to fight here. In space I’ve risked myself and the team, here I have to risk everyone I love. Adam… I don’t know how it ends. I have no idea what’s going to happen and what consequences it will have”.

Adam caresses Shiro’s hands with big thumb. It’s his old, up to shivering familiar touch, and there’s a lump in Shiro’s throat. 

“I’ve already burried you, Takashi”, almost soundlessly says Adam and closes his eyes a bit. “You came back after one year, then you was gone again,and now you’re here once again… It’s in default impossible to know what to expect with you, do you really think I can be amazed by something now?”

“No”, Shiro can’t help but laughs nervously, sniffing. “You’re very lucky to have such a boyfriend… I mean ex-boyfriend… Damn, I’m sorry”.

Adam moves over, stands up his chair and comes to Shiro still holding his hands. Shiro turns around to him, notices wet eyelashes, red eye corners, and he want to cry himself. Cry because of despair, imminence and inability to resque.

“I’ve never stopped loving you, Takashi. Not even for a minute, though you’re mine… Ex-boyfriend”, Adam exhales. “I’m not making you to love me in return or promise something, just survive, okay? Try at least, do me a favor”.

“I promise to try”, Shiro puts out his hand and runs his fingers over Adam’s cheek. “If we succeed… If we both survived… Can we start over? You see, I’ve never stopped loving you too, Adam. You’ve always been with me, in my memories, my thoughts, and I-”

Adam suddenly bends and kisses him, answering at once all other questions Shiro wanted to ask. Shiro cuddles him tight, catches his fast breath, tooks off his glasses so as not to hinder, and it feels so right, so natural, that the whole other world freezes and the upcoming war backs down, seems ephemeral and unserious. 

Maybe, Shiro thinks, they will really survive. 

“Welcome home, Takashi”, whispers Adam to his ear and smiles.

Maybe they both have a common future. 

“I’m home, Adam”, he whispers in return.


End file.
